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Learning for Life is a structured four-year pathway to becoming a fully qualified financial planner or paraplanner. It was created by Wealth Matters to develop graduates and provide them with an opportunity to build a career in the financial planning industry.
During the four years, you learn on-the-job whilst completing your qualifications. You receive mentoring by highly qualified and experienced paraplanners and financial planners, shadow client meetings, help build client portfolios, and get a varied exposure to numerous components of the financial planning journey.
Your progression results in regular pay rises and bonuses, one for each exam passed. The rewards, both personal and financial, really encourage you to become as qualified as possible (there are an abundance of exams you can take), and it sets you up with an incredible career.
How I’ve been finding it
Personally, my favourite part of the journey has been the ability to shadow client meetings with the financial planners. This has really helped to develop my confidence when dealing with important client queries and has cemented how integral a trusted client relationship is when it comes to financial planning.
I have also found so much benefit in attending conferences and meeting other professional connections. Being able to network with others in the industry has widened my knowledge, even learning about how human behaviour affects financial decisions. Really interesting perspectives which I can then apply to the rest of my career.
There is such a difference in learning on the job, than just attending a stand-alone course. This has allowed me to not just learn the textbooks, but also to apply the knowledge in a fast- paced environment whilst dealing with more complex cases than those in the textbook. This has kept me more focused during the process as I have been constantly challenged throughout.
To anyone starting the Learning for Life Journey, I would say that it is a big commitment so it’s important that they plan how they intend to study and allocate enough time for this. You do get given study days, but those alone won’t be enough. Before stressing, it’s always worth asking the highly experienced staff who have gone through a similar journey. They really want you to succeed, so are very understanding, supportive and always happy to help.
I am now a year and a half into my journey. I have taken five exams and decided I want to pursue a career in paraplanning. I am passionate about providing clients with accurate information and carrying out detailed analysis, which are then used by advisers to make recommendations which are in the best interests of our clients.
Outside of work I like to spend time with my friends and family, catching up on a good Netflix Series, painting and travelling!